Steven Gabel, MD, FACS

This patient is 2 years out from a transplant to enhance and thicken the frontal hairline and scalp. He was especially concerned about the areas that had significant thinning including and around the central tuft of hair. 2365 grafts were placed in the hairline, anterior scalp, to the mid-scalp to essentially blanket the entire frontal scalp. Since we did not trim his hair for the procedure, (see immediate postop photos) one week after surgery, he was able to go to work without any evidence that he had a procedure, which was important for this patient as his work requires him to be out in public. The caliber of his donor hair was such that it blended very well with his existing hair to give him a natural gradient of hair from the frontal hairline to the mid-scalp. He did not want to have a "wall" of hair at the frontal hairline, but rather a nice, natural gradient blending to a thick central tuft, which was all accomplished. This transformation and result took about two years to achieve after only one transplant. After he shed the transplanted hairs, he started to grow about 3 - 4 months postop, and over the next year, the transplanted hairs continued to thickened up and grow to the length that it is shown in the photos. He has had several haircuts which has allowed him to style and blend his hair to his preference. Minoxidil and finasteride are part of his daily regimen.

This patient is a 57 year old African American female who had a lifetime history of significant alopecia in the frontal temporal area. She desired increased density of hair in that area. She always had a thin frontal hairline and did not want to change her appearance drastically; therefore, a moderate number of grafts were placed into the frontal temporal angles to give her the appearance she desired. She is 1-year after transplanting 1007 grafts (1 hair grafts - 265; 2 hair grafts - 559; 3 hair grafts - 168; 4 hair grafts - 15) into the hairline and frontal temporal angles. A few grafts were scattered into the central hairline with a majority laterally. A photograph was taken showing the grafts and the significant curve to them. When we placed the grafts, we were very careful to place them in the appropriate direction so the hairs grew out in the direction we planned. At this point, we estimate she has about 85% growth and should thicken up over the next year. She is very pleased so far with the results - she desired the area to be filled in so it looked appropriate and blended well to the rest of the hairline and temple area. She will be back in 1 year for additional photos which will be posted.

This patient is a 46 year old gentleman who desired to have his mustache repaired. He was born with a cleft lip and palate, which caused a significant gap in the tissues of the upper lip, and if the cleft extends into his mouth, the roof of the mouth can have a large gap that then has an opening into the bottom of the nasal cavity called a cleft palate. He has undergone numerous surgical procedures to repair the cleft lip and cleft palate. He has had bone grafts placed into his mouth to reconstruct the roof of his mouth so he can swallow and breathe properly (see photograph of roof of mouth). He has had several surgical procedures on his lip and nose. He recently had his jaw split and moved forward for proper alignment. To say it has been a long struggle is an understatement. He is a really nice person with a great attitude overcoming a tough problem. Thankfully, at this point, he is doing very well. The one area now that bothers him is the gap in his mustache. He uses his mustache to cover some of the scars in his upper lip; however, no hair is growing in that area and he feels people notice it more because of the lack of hair. We had several conversations about the procedure and the possibility that the hair would not grow in the scar tissue because of how thick the scar is and possibility of poor blood supply. He understood the risk and decided to go ahead with the procedure. He underwent a transplant to his upper lip and it went great. While making the slits, I felt that there was a good blood supply from the bleeding that occurred. We transplanted 255 grafts into the upper lip in a focused area where he lacked hair. The grafts were oriented very carefully to follow the natural direction of his mustache. Overall he tolerated the procedure well and I'll keep this post updated on its growth and progress. The patient will be following this post and I wanted to thank him for allowing me to share his experience.

Mick I appreciate your comments. Thanks. Steve Gabel, M.D.

Badger01 has been active on the forums prior to his procedure and continues to post his experience. He has an extensive web log of his progress. He is now 18 months out from his hair transplant of 3279 grafts to the frontal region of his scalp. His transformation for the last 6 months has been great. He is faithful about taking finasteride. A video was also produced. It is in the final stages of production.

This patient is a 61 year old gentleman who is 1 year out from surgery. He had 2581 grafts placed in one session to the frontal scalp. This is a video presentation showing the preoperative photos, immediate post-operative photos, 6 month post-operative photos, and 1 year result with photos and video. http://www.nwshrdata.com/HR1year.wmv

This patient is a 64 year old gentleman who has been slowly thinning to the point where he desired restoration to the anterior scalp area. The preoperative photographs show significant alopecia at the front half of the scalp, with some alopecia of the crown. The postoperative photographs are 14 months after 1 procedure where 2656 grafts were placed in the coronal orientation. His hair was not cut to perform the procedure, and grafts were placed between his existing hairs at approximately 45 grafts/sq. cm (see close up of identified slits with ruler).

This patient is 1 year following his hair transplantation surgery. His main goal was to fill in and thicken the frontal third of the scalp. At this point, he is starting to thin in the crown and is on medical therapy (minoxidil and finasteride) to hopefully maintain it. Stats: One session Strip method: 22.3 x 1.4 cm strip 1 hair grafts: 637 2 hair grafts: 1756 3 hair grafts: 520 4 hair grafts: 50 Total grafts: 2963

Dr. Konior This is another example of the outstanding results you are able to obtain for your patients. Excellent work.

I appreciate all the positive comments for this result. This patient is very active in the Seattle area and it has met his expectations and goals form the procedure. Azn-guy-001: Right now, he is satisfied with the result he obtained. We had originally discussed a possible second procedure, but we were able to accomplish his goals with only one. He does understand that hair loss is progressive, and he may require a procedure down the line, but after our last conversation, he is going to enjoy the results. Sorry for the delay in responding, I've been in and out of the country traveling with family and friends. I spent a ton of time last summer training for the Ironman and was able to participate and finish Ironman Canada a couple months ago in Penticton, Canada. Now that I've had a little time off, I'm starting to train again to compete in next years Ironman Canada 2010 in August 2010.

This patient is a 61 year old male who was interested in thickening up the frontal area of his scalp. He has hair in the area, but wanted to have a fuller and more youthful appearance. Although he has thinning in the crown, his primary goal at this point was the frontal area. Transplant details: One procedure - 2581 grafts total Single hair grafts: 684 Two hair grafts: 1472 Three hair grafts: 398 Four hair grafts: 27 The patient is now 6 months after the transplant and is noticing the transplanted area is starting to thicken up. He is early in the post-operative period and just starting to grow. I plan to post his 1 year photos when he returns for a visit.

This patient is a 44 year old gentleman from Seattle, Washington, who is 1 year out from his transplant. His main concern was restoring his hairline and filling in the balding areas in the frontal scalp. He was a NW 3/4 who had 3852 grafts placed in the front part of his scalp in 1 session. Specifics: 26.0 cm x 1.8 cm strip 1 hair grafts: 512 2 hair grafts: 2315 3 hair grafts: 1025 I saw him last month up in my Seattle, Washington office where the post operative photos were taken. I did not have my usual set up so the lighting and background are different from the preoperative photos. He will be coming down to my Portland office in the future where additional photos will be obtained. I included intraoperative photographs showing the slit design and placement as well as immediate postoperative photographs.

Dr. Cooley Excellent work and result. She now has a very natural appearing female hairline.

50 year old gentleman with who is a NW 4 and with considerable alopecia of the crown. He has had a total of 9965 grafts placed throughout the scalp in 4 procedures over the last 5 years. For the last several years since his first transplant, we have been following the progression of his natural hair loss and transplanting into those areas. Since this patient cuts his hair very short, it has required a high number of grafts to fill in areas of alopecia with enough density to obtain a very natural appearance.

whyhowhy That is where I saw it listed for the first time as well.

This takes the cake, or should be up there, in a list of top 10 bogus solutions for hair loss. There is now an IPhone app for hair loss: 'HAIR CLINIC: for man and woman.' I just found this on the internet and had to check it out and it is true. Go to Apple's website in the app store and you will find it. They call it 'The World's first Mobile Hair Clinic System.' From briefly reading this, people are supposed to put the IPhone to their head and the app makes the phone generate inaudible high and low frequencies to promote circulation around the hair follicles. The best part is the disclaimer: may cause headaches if the built in speaker is used close to the ears. The company states that it is not responsible for the headaches. And all this for $3.99.

Here is the link to the videos: Low res (faster loading/viewing): http://www.nwshrdata.com/2315GraftsE Hi res (needs a little time to load): http://nwshrdata.com/HairVideo2315Hi

This patient had 2315 grafts placed in the frontal hairline and midscalp 3 years ago. Grafts were placed posterior to several of his native hairs (which have remained) to produce a natural, soft appearing hairline which he desired. He continues to use finasteride on a daily basis which has been working well to maintain his crown.

Our address is: 601 108th Avenue Northeast, 19th Floor Bellevue, Washington 98004

I would like to announce that we now have a consultation office in the Seattle-Bellevue area. After a long application process, I have obtained my Washington Medical license and will be performing consultations in the Seattle area. If you are interested in scheduling a consultation with Dr. Gabel in our Seattle-Bellevue office, please call 877-936-4247 (HAIR). My staff will be happy to assist you.

Patient is a 50 year old gentleman who wanted his frontal hairline restored and to thicken up the frontal scalp. 2506 grafts were placed into the frontal hairline. A majority of the rest of the grafts were used to rebuild the lateral anterior 1/3 of the frontal scalp and grafts were also scattered in the frontal tuft to thicken it up.

bash77 - I'm not aware of the other doctors using the device; hopefully as they use it they will post their experience with it. As I wrote, it has made the FUE process much easier and more precise. HairHope: The first patient I used the device on was a patient of mine who has had many transplants that he had very limited donor hair. Before he met me, he had several scalp reductions and "plug" procedures that his only option was FUE. He was very excited to be my first patient with the new device and it went well. Because I was new to the device, I did not charge him for the FUE. I would not call it an experiement - I've been performing FUE for years. This is new instrumentation for a procedure I've done many times in the past. This patient probably got a better result with a higher yield using the Feller instrument as it makes the whole FUE process easier.

Bash 77 I have used the Feller Motorized Extraction Device now with several patients since receiving it. It was definately made the extraction process easier and more efficient. What I have found great about the device is that I can concentrate more on the exact angles and depth of the extraction process then having to manually twist the punch. I have some video that I took that I will post in the near future using the Feller Device.

chan123 I recommend my patients use an airplane pillow around their neck after surgery. The airplane pillow is soft enough to minimize irritation and discomfort at the donor site while keeping the grafts safe from any rubbing of the pillow. If the crown was transplanted, an airplane pillow can still be used, but it must be used with caution to minimize any forces that can dislodge the grafts. I also recommend that my patients sleep in a more upright position (30 degrees or so) to help with the swelling.

Dr. Linsey Can you give a little more detail? He had an implant placed centrally? and how big is the implant? Do you know where the incisions are for the implant? Also, where did they put the grafts - are they spread out over then entire crown or just at that central necrotic area? Interesting situation.